


A Second Chance

by the_impatient_panda



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Post-Canon, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:48:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25578346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_impatient_panda/pseuds/the_impatient_panda
Summary: In which Seven asks the Admiral a question from her timeline, referring to something that for the Admiral happened decades before. And the answer changes the course of Seven's future in the best way possible.WARNING: INCOMPLETE like SEVERELY incomplete, there's a few areas of skeleton dialogue and several notes, but this should probably clock around 130 pages and instead comes in at 7. So you do the math on that. Love or hate at your own risk!
Relationships: Chakotay/Seven of Nine, Kathryn Janeway/Seven of Nine
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	A Second Chance

“Admiral?”

Janeway looked up from the control board in the Astrometrics lab, meeting Seven of Nine’s gaze and feeling her heart clench once again. It was a sweet pain, though, to see her alive after all these years. Decades. 

“Yes, Seven?” she replied, keeping her voice steady from years of practice.

“I wish to ask you a question, Admiral.” The ex-borg stood straight as always, and like usual her question was just short of a demand. 

“You may, though I do not promise to answer.”

“Seeing as you have already polluted the time-stream by coming, I do not believe what I wish to ask will cause any further contamination,” her companion replied steadily.

“You are probably right. Ask away.”

“Do you recall the conversation we had about romance? Our first one, in your office?”

“Yes,” the Admiral replied quickly. “I do. I don’t think I could ever forget.”

“Then do you also recall the discussion we had that night? When I came to see you in your quarters?”

“Yes.” More quietly. If the first conversation was memorable, the second was seared into her memory. 

Janeway could still recall the small details of the day. The time, an hour to midnight. Herself lounging on a chair, reports scattered across her lap and a book in her hands. She had only meant to read a single chapter before getting back to work, but she was now several chapters past that point with no signs of remembering her promise. 

The tone signalling a visitor had pulled her from the classic tale, and she’d called, “Enter,” as she turned just her head to see who it was.

Seven, of course, strode in and met her gaze and her heart had skipped a beat like always. Damned old fool. 

She had come with a question, as usual, and through the rambling detail the gist of it had been this: why was the Captain not romantically involved with anyone, ever?

Janeway could have answered in so many ways. But she knew Seven, knew the tenacity in which the ex-borg would pursue any line of questioning she felt incomplete. So she gave two reasons that, between them, sealed off any possibility of argument.

Guilt over the destruction of the Caretaker’s device which might have returned them home immediately, making her life’s purpose getting everyone else home.

And the fact that, no matter how she words it, favoring someone like that in the crew would have consequences that she cannot afford when they are stranded as they are. 

Which means that, until they return home, she will not allow herself any romantic dalliance of any kind. Ever. It isn’t about Starfleet rules, but simple cause and effect. Anyone who is a member of the crew, who travels with them...it would cause issues. So, she can’t let it, because they have issues enough without that complication.

Seven had stared at her for a long time, then nodded, thanked her for her time and left.

“My question, Admiral,” the present Seven said with unusual hesitation, “Is did you allow yourself the freedom of a romantic relationship once you returned to Earth?”

“I did not,” Janeway admitted with a wry smile. “But not because of a lack of opportunity. The one I loved was lost to me, and I had no desire to find another after that.”

“How were they lost?”

“They died.”

“Do you still love them?”

“I do.” A long look in silence passes between them. 

“Thank you, Admiral.” Turning to leave.

“You need to know something else,” Janeway herself say, and cursed herself for an honest fool.

“Yes, Admiral?”

“Up until the day he died, Chakotay loved you as well. Nor did he ever love another.”

“...thank you, Admiral.”

-090-

Voyager’s return to Earth was as tumultuous as their first few months in the Delta Quadrant. Briefings, meetings, sharing of data, getting in touch with family and friends, a tour of all the major cities on the planet and a few of the closest space outposts to share their story, shake hands with important people and meet groups of school children. (Include visits to important alien homeworlds, for the officers, Seven and the Doctor. Naomi and her mother as well, as she is the first child aboard the ship and she’s asked to tour several schools as a result. Seven goes with her whenever she can.)

And Janeway, much to her private disgust, became an Admiral.

“Not even fifty, and they’re going to force me behind a desk,” she could be heard to grumble when not in public. “I have plenty of good years left to me, and they’re going to make me spend them stuck in one place!”

“It could be worse,” Chakotay would tease her back. “They’re pardoning me, then politely asking me to leave Starfleet as soon as our grand tour is over.”

“Yes, but you want to leave Starfleet and go join one of those archeological digs that are clamoring for your attention,” Janeway would grouse back grumpily. “I’m the one that’s not getting what I want.”

“You could leave Starfleet,” her Commander would reply lightly. “I know you’ve gotten offers from universities, leading science labs and several other prestigious institutions.”

“Yes, for more desk jobs.” Groaning. “And not a single one of them will allow me back into space for more than short trips. I have to be close at hand to be brought out and put on display at important functions. I asked Picard how he managed to avoid my fate, and he had the nerve to tell me I ‘showed off’ too much for them to let me loose now. As if he has any room to talk, and he refused to speak to high command on my behalf. Seemed to find the whole thing rather amusing.”

“He does have a rather puckish sense of humor, doesn’t he?”

Seven watched and waited and slowly began to disengage herself from Chakotay. 

When he asked why, she had replied, “We want different things.”

“Different how?”

“You wish to explore ancient cultures, on this world or others. To teach and explore. I wish to study science. To help further the bounds of what is possible. I can’t do that if I’m with you in the field, and you can’t teach and explore if you’re with me in a lab. I will not ask you to choose between me and the life you wish to lead, nor will I be asked to make that choice.”

“It sounds like you already are.”

“No, what I am doing is making a logical decision before the choice is necessary. I would not be happy in the field. You would not be happy in a lab.”

“You don’t know that.”

“You accepted the _____ _______’s offer, did you not?”

“...I did, yes. But it's not official, and I can still change my mind.”

“Did you even consider what I thought before you said yes?”

“...I didn’t, no.” Quickly. “Seven, I’m sorry, I-”

“I am not angry. Quite the opposite, I find myself relieved.”

“Relieved?” Face turning red. “I see.”

“Because if you had asked me first, then it would indicate that your affection for me was as strong or stronger than what you wished to do with your life.”

“What about you? Is your affection for me stronger than what you wish to do with your life?”

“I care for you deeply, Chakotay. And you will always be important to me. But...I was Borg. In some ways still am. I am better able to...compartmentalize my feelings when it is necessary, and thereby study the future with fewer prejudices. I am sorry to end our romantic relationship, but I believe it to be for the best. For both of us. I hope we can remain friends.”

It was his quiet, calm ascent that cinched it for her. If she had been mistaken as to his feelings, he would have fought harder. He did not. And in fact, whether or not he wished to admit it, he left her quarters with a lighter step than he had entered. Their diverging paths had been worrying, whether or not he realized it. 

At the end of their ‘victory lap’, those remaining with Starfleet were given a month of leave to visit and travel before being thrown back into the fray. 

The officers were housed in a Starfleet housing complex, with a communal room for eating and relaxing. Admiral Janeway wandered in stretching in old pants and t-shirt, smiling naturally for the first time in months.

“Home,” she said when she caught Seven’s eye across the room. “My bags are packed, and they’re expecting me first thing in the morning. Phoebe is going to come pick me up, and I have a month on the farm with her and mom. Where are you headed in the morning?”

“I am not certain yet,” Seven admitted with a calm shrug. “My original plans with Naomi Wildman and Icheb have changed.”

“How so?” Curious.

“Samantha Wildman’s mother is insisting that Naomi come visit her first, and Naomi has asked Icheb to stay with her until she starts school. The response she has gotten from other children being the first child born on Voyager has made her apprehensive, and in her own words having Icheb around makes her ‘less strange’ than being alone. Our week visiting science museums around the country has been postponed until the third week of leave, and he and I will take his requested trip to the asteroid belt space research station on his first long break at the academy. I think by then, we will both enjoy the short return to space travel all the more.”

“You could have asked for a post at a research space station, Seven. They would have let you have your pick of assignments.”

“I am aware, but it would not put me in close proximity to Icheb. Many have offered to ‘keep an eye on him’ should I desire to leave, but I believe I wish to remain close by to be certain all is well.”

“I think that’s completely understandable. Has he decided on a rooming situation yet at the Academy?”

“He is going to remain with me for the first semester, and if he finds individuals he feels comfortable among he will transition to student housing before the second. Given his unique situation, the Academy is being most understanding.”

“That’s good to hear. And I’m sure he’ll find his place there soon.”

“So I hope.”

“But now you’re at loose ends for this week? What is Chakotay doing?”

“Visiting his family, I believe.”

“And...you aren’t going with?”

“...I thought you had been informed. The Commander and I are no longer romantically involved. Therefore I will not be accompanying him to visit his family.”

“Oh, no, I didn’t....I hope everything’s.....alright?”

“It is. We parted as friends, realizing that our paths were going in different directions.”

“That’s very...logical of you.”

“Yes, it was.”

“Do you have any objection to visiting the farm twice? I know you were going to spend the last week with us, along with Tom and B’Ellana and the Doctor. And Chakotay. But you’d be more than welcome to come both weeks. Or the whole month. My mom loves having company over, and rarely does.”Add on more babbling.

“I would love to.” Wide smile. Kathryn hastily clears her throat. Others enter, and they move on.

-090-

Meeting Phoebe at the transporter station

-090-

Seeing the farm, and meeting Mrs. Janeway

-090-

First few days together.

-090-

The final day together. No flirting, but lots of time together and a general calm companionship that is very nice.

-090-

A week with the Doctor

-090-

A week with Naomi and Icheb

-090-

  
  


Return to the farm! ‘Thank goodness, she’s been grumpy since you left!’ After a few days, the rest of the main crew trickles in. The final get-together before they separate across the world and the vastness of space. 

The final morning they all leave together from the transporter, various goodbyes. 

In the end, Icheb, Janeway and Seven leave together for Starfleet Headquarters.

-090-

Over the weeks, everyone settles into their new roles. Janeway has dinner a few times each week with Seven and Icheb. She occasionally eats with just Icheb when Seven is busy with work, and is happy to do so once she realizes how well Icheb can cook. Seven, inheriting her parents estate, has a decent amount of money set aside. Janeway doesn’t realize how dependent she is on these dinners, Seven knows. And is waiting for Janeway to come around.

-090-

At Icheb’s first break, Seven and Icheb make plans to visit the asteroid belt. Icheb invites Janeway, which Seven gently chides him for taking the Admiral’s time. Janeway decides it's an excellent idea, and tags along. The close quarters comes close to igniting something, but with Icheb there it keeps things in check. Janeway admits just how attracted she is to Seven to herself, and considers what to do about it.

-090-

Janeway shows up at Seven’s apartment, and finds Icheb packing his bags. He has found a few roommates, and is getting ready to transfer into Starfleet. He is not planning to see Seven more than every other week, though they discuss speaking fairly regularly. 

Icheb gets Seven to promise she’ll keep feeding Janeway, given her track record with replicators. Janeway tries to protest, but its very weak and Seven easily overrides her. 

-090-

Courtship begins. Slow burn. The holiday get together is awkward and adorable all over the place, and the few people who join them can totally see it coming.

-090-

Adorable ending, yay!


End file.
